Pet Sitters Plus is excited to announce a new service Dog Playgroups. Is your dog high energy? Do you want your dog to have more socialization with other dogs? Are you too tired to walk them after work? Then they need to be in a playgroup.

I will pick up your dog from your home, drive them to playgroup. They will be in a private fenced area with a maximum of 5 dogs. Play group will be for over an hour, then I will drive them back to their house. You come home to a happy tired dog.

If you are interested in this service and live within 8 miles of the Eastline Romp & Play dog park in Malta then check the web site for more details: www.petsittersplusny.com/dog-playgroups

It surprises me the number of people who don't bother to shovel their driveways when there is less than 4" of snow. As a home owner I am not just concerned for my own safety but that of my wife, son and dog. As a pet sitter with several employees I am concerned for all of our health and safety. What people don't realize is that just several inches of snow can partly melt or on warm days it rains and then it turns cold and freezes. This presents a major safety risk for us as we sometimes have a long walk up someones driveway and sidewalk and they are a sheet of ice. We run the risk of slipping and falling minimally getting a bruise, to breaking a bone or even can be fatal if you crack your head on the ice.

Sometimes people on vacation in the winter don't have plan for when it snows and we have to trudge through 8 or more inches of snow, making our own path. This is time we would be spending with your pet so we can not give the quality of care we would like as we have a busy schedule with other pets to visit.

For the safety of you, your family, your pets, and any service providers please keep your driveways and walks clear of snow and ice.

It always surprises me when people call me up for the first time to hire me to sit their pets and then proceed to give me all the instructions over the phone. I tell them I need to come over first and do a free new client visit and they are surprised by that. I have had people on vacation call me from the hotel expecting me to just come over and sit their pet while they are out getting messages, true story, with out ever meeting them or the pet or them meeting me. So that begs the question why do I need to do a free new client visit?

- Most important I want to meet the pet(s) and see if it is the right fit for both of us. I try not sit aggressive pets, although you don't always find out untill you get to the first visit with out the owners home. Sometimes pets have a male/female preference and won't take to me. If it's a rescue dog they are sometimes fear agressive and I can determine if I can handle them for a period of time.

- People don't remember every detail over the phone like meds., routine, etc. and may not remember to leave every thing out. Some even forget small animals like fish & turtles.

- It is important to learn where everything is kept (food, leashes, etc.) When dealing with senior pets it is important to get the lay of the land as some have special set ups like boards over stairs, so knowing which door to take them out is important. I've had dogs crated in wierd places that I would miss if not shown at the house.

- Many clients just give me the code to the garge door which is fine until the power goes out. So I like to get a key as a back up.

Many times the new client visit is an interview for me, however I am surprised that most times people hand me their key as soon as I walk in the door. Then I make sure the sit is right for all of us, pets and client. So it is a great opportunity to lay the foundation for a good future working relationship.

Professional pet sitters always ask clients to contact them when they return from their trip and surprisingly over half do not. Why does your pet sitter ask this?

- What if some thing happened to you and you did not return from your trip? Who would care for your pets?

      That is why we get an emergency contact so we can notify them and determine what to do with your pets

-Your return could be delayed (flight cancelled, etc.) 

      We will continue service until you return

If we don't hear from you we don't know if your plane was cancelled and you had to stay overnight or you had something bad happen to you and you were not coming home. Please don't assume that since you told us before when you are going to return that it is not going to change or something could happen. For the safety and care of your pets let us know of any changes to plans and when you are home safe.

Pet sitters are used to suprises. We have seen just about everything. However there are things you can do to make our job of caring for your pets easier:

• Make sure to have plenty of food/treats and have them out where we can see them. We may not have time to run to the store or be able to find your brand of food locally. One of our dogs has special food from our vet.
• Notify us of any diet changes, special dry food, mixing wet food in, etc.
• Have the food/water bowls out were they are easily seen so we don't have to hunt for something to put food in.
• Let us know of any medicine changes. Starting new medicine or done with medicine.
  
• Don't use fancy wooden crates with wood bars. I had a dog greet me at the door, I walked over to his crate and the door was latched, however three of the bars were chewed and the middle was missing.
• Keep leashes in the same spot so we don't have to search all over the house wasting their walking time to look for them.
• For cats please keep a scoop near litter box. I started keeping one in my car as I could not find one at someones house.
• Most important if you have more then 1 pet let us know if you take one with you, to vet., etc. I serched all over the house once as one of three dogs was not in her crate. Then I texted the client that one of their dogs was not in the house... She texted back shortly: "OMG! So sorry forgot to tell you we took her with us on our trip." Phew problem solved.
• In the winter a heads up that you are not going into work due to the bad snow storm and I do not need to come walk your dog is not something I want to hear you say you meant to do while I am at your door having risked my life as I barely got up your street.
• If you do a winter vacation please have a back up plan for snow removal so I don't start my day with soaking wet feet as I had to trudge through 10' of snow on your long driveway and clear a path with my foot to get up your stairs and have a path for the dogs to pee. One client actually left me a note "Snow blower in the garage if it snows". Fortunately it did not, not sure how much per hour I would charge for that.

I did an earlier post on the benefits of pet sitting vs boarding (Kennel). Pets are more comfortable in their own home, they get one-on-one attention and are not subject to kennel cough or other communicable diseases. Some people still feel that boarding is cheaper and go for cost rather than comfort. I looked at pricing for many of the local kennels they range from $25-$35 per day per dog. If you want one-on-one play time it is $10 extra, a private walk is $10 extra so that jumps to $70-$90 (although some give a slight discount for a second dog).

My pricining is per visit $15 for a 15-20 min. visit & $17 for a half hour visit. All visit can include feeding, play time and walk, all according to your pets routine. So 2-3 visits a day is $45-$51 a day for 2 dogs depending on the lenght of visits. So in your home pet sitting is cheaper than boarding and your pets stay home and happy  

The dog park in Malta on Eastline Rd. "Eastline Romp and Play" is officially open. The place is huge about 130'x300'.  Tags can be purchased at the town office. We are having a grand opening next year. We hope to raise enough money through donations to add a second fenced in area to seperate large and small dogs and have a training area. In the futrue there will be a pavillion, bathrooms, drinking fountain and benches. Check out the web page  eastlinerompandplay.weebly.com for more info.

We had a soft opening on Oct. 27th and many people stopped by with their dogs. It looks like it will be very popular. 

Many people think pet sitters have an easy fun job. They go into a home play with a pet or take it for a nice walk. This is true most of the time. But pet sitters often provide additional services including taking in the mail, newspaper and putting the trash bins out and back in. These are standard services however sometimes we go above and beyond to help protect a clients home and pets while they are away and also work hard to keep a clients pets in their routine. This is some of the extra services I have had to perform:

• Walk dog(s) in all kinds of weather, driving rain, snow, etc.
• Drive to a clients home in snow storm (I actually had a client greet me at the door after taking twice as long to drive to their house and my car was sliding all over the road... Client said "Yea I meant to call you and tell you not to come, I'm home". How do you respond to that?
• Clean the house from insulation the dog chewed up in the basement after getting out of metal crate.
• Close the front window during rain storm and mop up the puddle of water on the floor.
• Clean up pee, poop and vomit in several places though out the house... including diareah.
• Bringing packages in the house, all sizes and weights.
• Making sure all of the clients doors and windows are secure while they are away. Some times they are not locked or closed.
• Deal with stubborn or agressive pets (they were nice on the client visit but now...) 
• Deal with pets who are now shy and run away from you while you try to get them on a leash to go out to pee or even to the back door to go in the fenced yard... then trying to "herd" them to go back inside because they are afraid of you. i have dealt with many rescue dogs who act this way when the owner is not around.
• Having to locate a cat to give it it's meds and then getting scratched by it because it does not want the med.
• I have been bitten by a dog who was normally nice but has food agression issues. I thought it was done eating and it came to me I thought to go out... guess I was wrong as it came at me snarling and bit my ankle and drew a little blood.
• I have been bitten during playtime by accident with an over eager dalmation... note to self don't wave the toy too long, just throw it.
• Spend 45 minutes looking for a dog that got off its back yard line while I was in the house prepping food. Coincidently it was the same dog that later bit me.

Pets are most comfortable in their own home, especially senior pets. This is an actual line from a kennel contract: “When older pets are boarded they are placed under a great deal of stress because of removal from their normal home environment. This stress can cause latent (dormant) physical conditions (such as heart, liver and kidney disorders) to become active. This can result in illness or death of said pet.” A professional pet sitter comes to your home to sit your pets.

I am on the committee that is working on putting a dog park in Malta. At the meeting last week we discussed that the parking lot is being started and the fence will go up shortly after when the town gives us the money. However, there is still a lot of work to be done and money to be raised as we need signs and pet waste stations. Eventually we will need picnic tables, bathrooms and a drinking fountain. Phase 2 will be a fenced area with two sections, one for small dogs and the other will be a training area. We are always looking for dog lovers who wish to volunteer their time and help us out and/or donate money. Check out the web site www.eastlinerompandplay.weebly.com and the facebook page www.facebook.com/EastlineRompAndPlay for information and updates.